Revision as of 19:50, 29 June 2012

In February 1995 Ochten received international media attention because of a weakened dike after a prolonged period of high waterlevels in the rivers. This situation and the state of other dikes forced 250,000 people in this region to evacuate. The riverlevels had been unusually high for almost two months, reaching record heights during the first days of February. Although the dike started to shift a huge rescue operation managed to stabilise the dike. Several months later the already planned strengthening of the dike started

Research Tools

Great web-sites of Gelderland:

The following web-site has options for 'Search', 'Map", 'Arnhem in Pictures', 'Castles', 'Picture Postcards', 'Blaeu-atlas' (published between 1648 and 1658), and 'Themes'. There are literarely hundreds of pictures that may be of interest to you. Gelderland in Picture

Did you know?

Did you know that at the end of World War II some of the vital records stored at the Rijksarchief in Arnhem were destroyed? Records of Ammerzoden, Doetinchem, and others were almost completely destroyed. For more detailed information on which records were included (see)

Winterswijk was accidentally liberated in 1944 by two lost British soldiers, one of whom was Bernard 'Peter' Lee. Lee and another soldier were driving a Jeep and became separated from their convoy. Taking the wrong road while trying to find the convoy, they ended up in Winterswijk. The soldiers were greeted by the majority of the town in celebration, waiving flags and throwing money at the two. Realizing that the Dutch thought they were being liberated, Lee and his companion fled thinking the German Army was still present in town. The German Army had retreated from the town a few days before. The story has been published in several local newspapers. Lee buried the majority of the money he received in a metal box in another Dutch town. He returned in 1978 to find a bus station had been built on the site.

Wageningen is world famous for its military history. On 5 May 1945, the German general Blaskowitz surrendered to the Canadian general Charles Foulkes, which officially ended the Second World War in the Netherlands. The Generals negotiated the terms of surrender in the Hotel de Wereld, which since 2004 has again been serving as a hotel. On 5 May, which in the Netherlands is Liberation Day, the city hosts a large festival to celebrate the liberation. At this festival, veteran soldiers parade through the city and are honoured for their service.

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